This invention relates to a motion energy collection device and system for harvesting any number of energy generating situations both which occur naturally such as the waxing and waning of the ocean tides, waves and tidal currents; the rise and fall of the swells in the ocean, winds, thermal springs. In addition to these naturally occurring fluctuations in kinetic or potential energy also the harnessing of man made energy generating situations such as the turning of the wheels in an automobile, bicycle or so called “self winding watches” into a constant potentially uninterrupted energy supply Many methods and apparatuses are disclosed in the prior art which are designed to capture such useful energy naturally occurring or otherwise.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,023 (Gordon), teaches a wave driven power generation system Which utilizes a float or an array of similar floats arranged in a pre-established pattern to be responsive to and capture the broad spectrum of frequencies present in ocean waves and to extract the maximum power from the waves.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,886 (Fielder) teaches the collection of both of the naturally occurring and the human generated types of energy in a spring wound about a turbine.
My invention is a motion energy collection system and method which addresses needs which are not addressed in the prior art. In the prior art the energy collection systems are not continuous. causing constant delays in the energy collection process.
In the prior art, once the “spring” or a substitute therefore is sufficiently wound, the energy collection process must be halted so that the energy stored in the wound spring can be converted into useful electricity for example, by running an electric generator.
This electricity commonly is stored in batteries (e.g. wind power) or otherwise utilized and the energy collecting process can then be restarted and the process repeated. This results in the halting of the energy collection process while the batteries are charged or the electricity is generated and dispersed.
My device permits the continuous uninterrupted harvesting of naturally occurring energy or man made energy by teaching a continues uninterrupted harvesting process which does not require batteries for storage, the stoppage of the energy harvesting phase or any other interruption of the energy harvesting phase to either convert the energy collected into a useful form of power or to “unwind the spring”. Further my invention can be utilized in any situation where the shaft within a shaft of my device can both be wound and unwound at the same time. Typical situations are for example to generate electrical power in an automobile to run the lighting in the automobile while the automobile is moving. With some slight modifications wind can supply the power to be collected. My motion energy collection device has the further advantages that it can utilize otherwise useless structures like abandoned oil well superstructures as the base.
My device is inexpensive to manufacture and install.
Several modifications, changes and adaptions can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of my invention.
Therefore different means may be substituted by other types of design and are anticipated by my invention
These and other advantages of my invention will become apparent when viewed in light of the accompanying drawings and the following description